CBJ Docks and Harbors launches boat launch ramp use permits website

Juneau Docks and Harbors is now selling boat launch permits online, making it easier for people to purchase the permits required to use the seven launch ramps in the city.

Previously, people could only buy the permits in person at the Harbor offices or at the Port office on Egan Drive. With limited office hours, that meant frequently harbor patrons would use the ramps without a permit, which is a violation of Docks and Harbors ordinances.

“A lot of people would use the ramps illegally because they said the office is closed, or for one reason or another,” Teena Scovill, port secretary, said. “Some people were getting caught and getting tickets, and we wanted to help eliminate that.”

About 300 people were ticketed by the harbormaster for illegally using the ramps last year, Scovill said. The tickets cost about $85.

Now, the permits can now be purchased online at www.juneauharbors.com, without a visit to the Harbor office.

The cost is the same: the daily rate is $14, and with tax, the rate is $14.70; the annual rate is $90, and with tax, the rate is $94.50; and the commercial rate is $225, and with tax, the rate is $236.25.

Permits are required to use the ramps located at the Mike Pusich Douglas Harbor, North Douglas, Don D. Statter Harbor (Auke Bay), Tee Harbor, Amalga Harbor and Echo Cove.

Now that purchasing the permits online is an option, launch ramp users who do not have a permit will not receive warnings before being ticketed. The new website, which was created by Jeremy Hansen of Hansen Gress, went live on Jan. 1.

With the website up and running, Scovill says she hopes more people will take advantage of it.

Scovill pushed for the website since 2011 and received approval from the Docks and Harbors Board in October 2012.

“It offers the daily, annual or commercial use permits online, and it will alleviate somebody having to go to the Harbor office to get one,” she said. “It’s great online feature that you can just do it from home.”